Mixed Message Monday: Kevin Hart and Kickstart

Mixed Message Mondays are my foray into marketing commentary, focused on marketing attempts that must have seemed like a good idea to someone, but have somehow managed to lose the intended message…

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it feels like Kevin Hart is everywhere lately. He’s doing TV shows, movies, guest appearances, commercials, etc. To that, I say, “Good for you Kevin. Cash in on it while you can.”

But then, I saw a particularly disturbing commercial for Mountain Dew Kickstart.

Mountain Dew has been trying different things over the past couple years to keep their brand relevant. One of these things has been the introduction of a line of drinks that’s trying to fill the alleged gap between soft drinks and energy drinks. They call this line Kickstart.

I was intrigued when they first came out, and bought one. Given how much I love my caffeinated drinks, I’m sure that my saying that I’ve never bought another since should tell you everything you need to know about my opinion of it.

Recently, they’ve announced more flavors through a series of commercials starring Kevin Hart. Most are clearly intended to be outrageously comedic — which is exactly what we’d expect from Kevin.

One in particular, however, feels to me as though it’s likely to have the opposite of the intended effect. Personally, after watching Kevin smack himself on the ass (literally) over and over again, I definitely wanted a drink, but something far stronger than Kickstart…